What Is Man?

What a world of sorrow human beings can cause for themselves. In our studies in Judges 19–20, the perverted actions of the men of Gibeah have now resulted in the near-destruction of the entire tribe of Benjamin. And such is not unusual. We do not need to look long or hard throughout history and in our own time to see people bringing troubles and conflicts upon themselves, their families, churches, ministries, and even whole cities and countries. Why are human beings like this? Why do they have such an abiding tendency toward evil? What is man really, and what hope is there for him in the face of what the Bible calls sin? We will pause at this sad point in Judges to consider these and other questions with the help of Dr. R.C. Sproul’s audio/video teaching series A Shattered Image.

To make such a study is not simply to focus on the creature at the expense of the Creator. John Calvin affirms in his Institutes of Christian Religion that true wisdom consists in knowledge of God and of ourselves. These two areas of knowledge are complementary. Because we are like God in some way, being made in His image, growing in our understanding of God helps us better understand ourselves. Conversely, the more we understand ourselves, the better we know Him.

Man’s efforts to understand himself are ancient and ongoing. However, most modern attempts to define humanness are made from a this-world perspective, with no reference to God. For instance, one of the best-known descriptions of man is homo sapiens, or “wise man.” This definition implies that the distinctive trait of man, that which sets him apart from all other creatures, is his intelligence or wisdom. Man’s uniqueness is seen as lying in his thinking capacity. Blaise Pascal declared that man’s mental abilities render him the supreme paradox of creation, the creature of the highest grandeur and the most abject misery. The grandeur has to do with man’s ability to contemplate his existence, while the misery flows out of his ability to imagine a better life. Unlike any other creature, man thinks about his meaning in the cosmos and the possibilities that lie in his future.

In tomorrow’s study we will continue to look at ways modern man tries to define himself before we turn our attention to Scripture’s teaching later in the week.